


The Pros And Cons of Being A Superhero

by Akheilos_Aria, pokemonfreak387



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M, also adrien is a hot mess, and plagg is an asshole, in which tikki hates the cold, ladybug headcanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-23 03:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6103405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akheilos_Aria/pseuds/Akheilos_Aria, https://archiveofourown.org/users/pokemonfreak387/pseuds/pokemonfreak387
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While having the ability to transform into a kick-ass crime-fighting superhero has its own perks, some of the downsides to it can be much less pleasant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There weren’t many times Marinette found herself dreading the time when she’d have to transform. Most days she looked forward to it even- there was a certain kind of freedom that came with the secret identity. It was only a particular set of circumstances that made her put off having to become Ladybug, and this time now happened to hit every single one of them. 

December had swept into Paris, bringing with it all of its blustering cold and whirlwind weather. It was around this time that her superhero’s namesake would be swarming into houses to avoid the weather and find a safe place to survive for the season. She often found herself following suit of them when in costume, not staying out for extended periods of time if it was so much as ten degrees within freezing temperature.

Normally, she loved winter. The sweaters, the snow, the hot cocoa, and any opportunity to snuggle up to someone for warmth. However, something about her alter ego hated it- it may have come from Tikki’s side of the hero, or the miraculous itself, but Ladybug  _ despised  _ the cold. Nothing made her want to curl up and hibernate more than snow and subzero temperatures.

So of course when the time came for an Akuma attack in the middle of the night, Marinette wanted nothing more than to have everything done and over with as quickly as possible. And, hopefully, if Chat had gotten the memo about the Akuma, they could get it handled quickly enough for her to be back in bed within the hour.

Unfortunately her luck, for once, was not on her side this time. She’d already engaged the offender (who called themselves Short Circuit, and had knocked out all the lights in the Parisian area), and it had been in an exhausting half-an-hour scuffle with them before her black-clad partner had shown up, vaulting in from an indistinguishable location, practically hidden in the wake of the resulting power outage. She wasn’t made aware of his presence until he’d nearly scared the life out of her with a simple “Salut,” that was too close to her for comfort.

“Ah- Jeez, Chat!” Ladybug started, releasing her opponent in her one moment of surprise. “If you’re going to show up late, the least you could do is pick up the slack, I’m kind of struggling here.” She tried to hide how much her teeth chattered with the cold, but she was sure that he was able to tell with his heightened senses.

“Apologies, my lady,” Chat Noir spoke as he deflected one of the Akuma’s attacks with his baton, swatting away a live wire before it could damage Ladybug. “I was catching up on rest, much like the rest of Paris.”

This elicited a scoff from her. “Well, please don’t fall back asleep, I need you to cover me.” He gave a curt nod in response, distracting the Akuma while she summoned her Lucky Charm. The fight moved swiftly from that point on, with Chat’s night vision helping out tremendously in the suffocating darkness. After several tedious minutes, they had the akuma purified and Paris returned to its usual, breathtaking state.

Though her Miraculous Cure repaired most everything, the toll was obvious on Ladybug. Her teeth-chattering was more clearly seen in the ambient lights of the street lamps, and her breath came out in shuddering clouds of mist. Rather than hold out her hand for the celebratory fistbump they often shared, her arms instead opted to cling to her sides, holding in whatever warmth she was able to keep. At the sight of this, Chat’s ears flattened to his head, face holding an extremely concerned expression.

“Hey, are you going to be okay? You look like you’re halfway to becoming a bug-sicle..” She turned to him, adjusting her posture and nodding.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to get home before my transformation wears off. I used up my Lucky Charm, remember?”

“Question is, will you be able to make it the whole way?” He pressed on with his question, knowing that sometimes her stubbornness came to bite her in the ass. As lovely as she was, her pride was one of her few flaws she had, and he knew she hated to have it damaged.

“Don’t worry about me- just make sure you’ll be able to get  _ yourself _ home.” She flashed a mischievous grin at him before grappling off to a nearby building and heading off on her own. He watched her silhouette blend into the cityscape before him, biting his lip in overwhelming worry.

They were partners. Chat Noir knew that for a fact. And if he knew anything else for sure, it’s that in the couple of years they’d worked with each other, it was painfully obvious to him whenever something didn’t quite seem right. Instincts override reason in these kind of occasions, and before he knew it, he was bolting to catch up to her, cold wind ruffling his hair and snow flurries melting on his flushed face.

  
  


She wasn’t sure which slowed her down first- fatigue or the strong headwind. There wasn’t a clear answer for it either, for both played a heavy toll on her progress home. The only thing that was certain was that it was the Ladybug side screaming at her to tumble into the abandoned church tower as she swung from a particularly old building. The landing was everything but graceful, and she was sure that she’d feel the bruises in the morning, but her mind had blanked out in that moment.

It was by Tikki’s sheer willpower that the transformation held itself together, their only thoughts were to gather warmth and hold it close. Trembling hands clung to her sides, and she pulled her knees in close to shield herself from the wind. The walls of the tower offered some protection from the cold, and the rafters creaked with pressure from the gusts outside. Ladybug’s eyes screwed shut, and she felt the numbness reach even her conscious. 

Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong. It made the hair on the back of Chat’s neck stand up, and made a lump form in his throat from pure worry. The Plagg part of him heightened his awareness ninefold, and right now, that part of him was a twisted mess of negative feelings. If he was having this much trouble making progress through the weather, he was sure that Ladybug must have been having an even harder time with it. She was heavily exhausted from the akuma fight, and the thought of her being left in the snow was an image that made his gut wrench. 

Nearly every glimmer of anything red made him pause and look closer, panic slowly settling into the pit of his stomach. And every failure to find her made that pit sink lower.  _ God I hope Ladybug is okay.  _ He thought, constantly having to reassure himself that she would be fine- after all, she’s Ladybug! She could do just about anything.

Another glimpse of scarlet.  _ Just a french flag _ \- he thought. Flash of crimson.  _ Blanket on a balcony.  _ Glance of ruby.  _ Just- _

He took a double take, eyes widening slightly at the sight of his shuddering companion, who’d been huddled against the wall of the tower trying to keep herself warm. Relief flooded over him, only to be replaced by a new kind of worry which made him rush over to her with clumsy footsteps.

“My Lady?” Chat called over to her, fighting to keep his voice even. No response. He approached her, shaking her shoulder lightly, calling again. “Ladybug?” Barely a stir from her. A lump formed in his throat once more, and he nestled close to check her pulse and breathing. The heat radiating from him spurred her on to move closer to the source of it, resting her head on his shoulder.

He gave an exhale of relief, gathering up her limp limbs to carry her in a tight hold so he could share some of his warmth. Ladybug was quick to cling to him, mind still barely there. He gave a small smile before his brow furrowed in the resulting choice to make. They had to get somewhere they could safely detransform without the public knowing. Or rather- each other as well. Once again, he found his instincts taking over reason, and found himself heading towards a familiar location.

“Plagg, I swear, I’m a complete idiot.”

“No arguments there.”

A now de-transformed Adrien sat on the side of the large bed, head in his hands. He’d taken Ladybug to one of the spare rooms of the Agreste Mansion, door firmly locked and blinds drawn as to prevent anyone from seeing them. His aforementioned companion lay on the bed, still in transformation- but with no indication of when it’d be released. Adrien’s kwami sat on the dresser in front of him, working on the piece of camembert that had been provided for him.

“I shouldn’t have let her go out on her own,” Adrien mumbled, stealing another a glance at the sleeping girl. “She almost froze.”

“The only reason she didn’t is because of Tikki,” Plagg started, nibbling on the cheese. “I don’t know how long she’ll take to release the transformation, though. She hates the cold.”

“She even used a Lucky Charm today- that should’ve drained her immediately.” He flopped back onto the bed, keeping mindful of where Ladybug lay and keeping from disturbing her. “Should I cover her up and just leave out food for her kwami? Or maybe…” He pursed his lips in thought but chased away the idea almost immediately. “She wouldn’t trust me or Chat Noir ever again.” 

“Just leave some cookies out and drop a blanket on her. Tikki will come out when she thinks she’s safe.” Plagg licked his lips, finishing off the last of his treat. “Leave out some more camembert for me too- that wasn’t nearly enough for the amount of sleep I lost.”

“All you ever think about is cheese and sleep.” Adrien scoffed, and got up to set things out for Ladybug and her kwami. A plate of sweets was smuggled from the kitchen and left out on the nightstand. He’d moved to cover the sleeping girl with a thick comforter, and went back to his position on the other side of the bed, thinking over his options. Soon, he found himself slipping into unconsciousness, unwillingly lulled to sleep by the sound of his lady’s breathing, and the warmth she provided from under the covers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time I've written since the 9th grade, so I'm a little rusty but it flows better in later chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Morning found its way into the room through the slats of the blinds, the bright light painting horizontal lines on the messed up sheets of the bed. It was through a groggy awakening that Adrien found out two habits of Ladybug’s. First, she was a restless sleeper, having tossed and turned until the comforter that once covered her was now a tangled mess on top of the both of them. Second, to his delightment and terror, she was a subconscious cuddler. That was where he found himself now- trapped in the tight grasp of the sleeping girl.

While it wasn’t exactly an unwelcome embrace, she was rather warm. As in, overwhelmingly warm. To the point where he’d be tempted to describe her with “as if the goddamn sun has just made itself comfortable with torching my back”. Needless to say, the boy’s flushed face did not help the situation at all, and he felt he was uncomfortably close to overheating.

He was glad to see the plate of sweets had been cleaned off, though there was no sign of either kwami nearby. It took all of his strength to pull away from the clingy radiator beside him, hearing a low mumble of protest. It took even more of his strength to not look at her; not knowing whether or not she’d be in the form of her familiar spotted suit, or….

He cut off that train of thought. There was a reason they’d never revealed their identities to each other, and whatever joy he would get from knowing who she was would be immediately outweighed by the consequences. Instead, he scanned the room for Plagg, nose wrinkling in frustration when the mischievous kwami was nowhere to be found.

“Plagg-” He cut himself off as he adjusted his voice to the silence of the room, as not to wake Ladybug. “Plagg, where the hell are you?” he gave a harsh whisper through his teeth, eyes flickering about the room. His call was answered by a small yawn beside him, and he almost didn’t catch himself when he turned around to the sound. Once he caught his mistake, he was quick to turn his head sharply back towards the wall, trying to erase the glimpse of raven hair he’d caught. “Plagg, why are you sleeping on Ladybug,” Adrien clenched his jaw, keeping his gaze focused on the tacky wallpaper in front of him.

“She’s a lot comfier than the computer desk, you know.” The retort came from the kwami’s position where he was curled up on the girl’s neck, leeching off of the excess of warmth from her.

This elicited a scoff from his charge, not unlike the one that Ladybug had given him the night before.

“You’re going to end up waking her-”

“Too late.”

“Plagg,”

“Ladybug, rise and shine-”

“Plagg, don’t you dare,”

“Time to wake up and smell the cheese-”

“Oh my fucking god.”

Adrien felt the girl stir behind him, and he swore he felt his heart in his throat. He waited anxiously for the confrontation that would await him, screwing his eyes shut in anticipation. Yet it never came. What happened instead was that he felt himself being pulled back down to the bed, and clung to once more. Great, back to square one. His face flushed to a hue that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Ladybug’s costume. 

“You really have it bad, don’t you?” Plagg shifted behind him.

He merely grunted in response.

“Man, Tikki really can choose good charges if they make each of mine fall head over heels.” The kwami mumbled half to himself, before being forced out of his spot by Ladybug’s movements. Adrien could hear her breaths becoming more shallow- a sure sign that she was going to awaken soon.

“Plagg, you need to get out of sight before she finds out I’m Chat Noir,” He lowered his voice to a hushed tone, emphasizing the urgency of the situation with a pleading gaze. Plagg sighed, floating off to sit on top of the headboard of the bed, where he could observe the situation without being seen. The next few minutes passed in a stifling silence, the boy frozen in place as Ladybug started to wake up.

 

The blanket and sheets felt unfamiliar and strange to a slowly waking Ladybug, and overall confusion set in even before she’d opened her eyes. It was obvious the moment she got a good look at the room she was in. The ceiling was higher, and the bed had a wooden canopy that was missing the curtain coverings. She finally managed to piece it together by finding the warm body beside hers. This wasn’t her bedroom. This wasn’t her house. And this certainly was not her bed.

She immediately scrambled away from the mystery stranger, muffling a short gasp of shock. Something peculiar happened after the akuma attack last night, but her mind stopped just short of what exactly that peculiar something was. Tikki would have to know, seeing as she was somehow still in her superhero garb. She had to get home and find out.

She slowly rose from the bed, taking quiet steps towards the window on the other side of the room. Thankfully, the stranger didn’t stir once during this- leading her to believe they may have still been asleep even through her small little freakout from minutes before. Maybe her luck was recovering from last night after all- and she could just walk away from this encounter like it never happened. It’d still be hard to come up with an excuse to her parents as to where she was all night, but hopefully Alya could be her wingman for that.

Her thought process was brought to a screeching halt when she turned around to face the room from the window. Staring up at her from the bed was a pair of vivid green eyes widened in apprehension, with a flushed, embarrassed face to match it. She recognized the person immediately.

She had been cuddling up to Adrien Agreste. THE Adrien Agreste. Teen heartthrob, attractive model, high school-crush Adrien Agreste. She caught her heart in her throat, feeling the heat rise to the surface of her face. There was no way she could recover from this. As either Ladybug or Marinette. She found herself staring for a socially inappropriate amount of time, unable to look away or defend herself. Words evaporated before they could even make it out of her mouth. In fact, the first words didn’t come from her at all, but the figure before her.

“I-... Ladyb..ug?” He stuttered out the phrase, his voice uncharacteristically cracking in the process, to which his face flushed more. Oh my god, she’d made his voice crack. If she weren’t absolutely stunned into shock, she would have found it adorable. Unfortunately, this is where her panic-stricken instinct took over, opening the door for more embarrassment.

“I- I have to go right now, immediately.” She opened the window and whizzed off without giving him the chance to say anything more. The blood pounding through her ears was the only thing that followed her home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found out how much fun writing Plagg is.


	3. Chapter 3

“Maybe it would’ve been better if it actually was someone that I didn’t know, and y’know, maybe it could’ve been literally anyone other than Adrien-freaking-Agreste.”

“Even Chloé Bourgeois?”

“Maybe especially Chloé Bourgeois, I don’t know.” Having gotten safely home without much trouble, Marinette was stuck in the middle of a meltdown. Pacing the room back and forth isn’t always something that she did, but she felt it comically appropriate for the situation and it gave her an outlet for pent up energy. Her kwami watched with a sympathetic gaze, being conflicted on how to comfort her.

“It doesn’t help that I now have to be careful with staying out too long in the cold, either.” She paused to cast a skeptical glance over at Tikki. “Was there something in the fine print of our hypothetical contract about this?” The kwami shrugged.

“I don’t think we’ll cross Adrien enough as Ladybug for it to really make an impact.” Tikki admitted, floating over to the anxious girl to give her a nuzzle to comfort her. 

“I hope you’re right. I don’t want things to be more awkward than they already are.” The girl returned the gesture to her kwami, and worked on getting her composure back.

 

Adrien, on the other hand, had a hard time snapping out of it. He was starstruck and dazed, frozen to the spot where Ladybug had left him.

“Earth to Adrien- common sense is calling.” Plagg tried to return him to his senses, headbutting the boy’s cheek.

He merely brushed him off, letting out a dreamy sigh. “Tell it to leave a message.”

“The message says- ‘I’M STARVING.’” He gave another headbutt, causing Adrien to take a step back and shoot a glare, rubbing his cheek and pouting. “Alright- I’ll get you your cheese, you glutton.” There was a momentary huff from the boy before he headed out of the room to get the cheese for the kwami, finding it harder and harder to explain the occurrences to the staff in the kitchen. He had barely enough time to get the treat to Plagg before being ushered off to an afternoon photoshoot. 

The rest of the lazy Sunday passed in an agonizing slowness for the both of them. The Dupain-Cheng Bakery did not see many customers in the afternoon, and Marinette found herself growing easily bored at the front counter while her parents baked in the back. Adrien fell into the same cookie-cutter photoshoot as he always experienced them. Pose, Fix, Reprimand- rinse and repeat. It was only late into the afternoon did he remember that he had a scheduled patrol for that night as Chat Noir, which instantly lifted his mood. Thoughts of his lady kept him going until the time when evening came.

Marinette wasn’t offered such a privilege of a time passer. She found herself dreading the patrol, as it meant having to go out into the cold as Ladybug once more. The radio played as she worked in the bakery, offering some relief from the overwhelming ennui that overtook her. That is, until a record low for the year was reported for the news, to which she let out an aggravated groan. It was going to be a long night.

 

Chat Noir waited in anticipation for the moment that his lady would arrive. They’d set a time to meet, but looked like Ladybug was running late. Not that he particularly blamed her. It was freezing outside. He couldn’t feel much of it through his suit, but the sting of the winter air still made his face numb. A visible wisp of air glinted in the dim light of the street lamps as he let out a dreamy sigh, thinking back to the warmth of the bed from earlier that morning. He’d give anything to have another moment like that- even if it was incredibly awkward at the time.

His ears perked up as he heard sounds approaching from his left side. The unmistakable whirr of a yo-yo as it grappled to the siding of the building, and the quieter sound of footsteps as Ladybug used it as a support to climb up the faςade to the roof. He opened his mouth to greet her, only to have the words fall from existence at the look of her condition. Though she couldn’t have been in transformation for more than a few minutes, she already looked dreadful. She had already started shivering, and her face just about blended into her mask with her cheeks flushed. He felt his heart sink. It killed him to see her like this.

“Are we going to get started or not?” Her voice was almost as cold as the air was, her gaze unusually steely as her teeth chattered. It was obvious that she wanted to get it over with before she made another slip up like last night.

“Ladybug, I think you should go ahead and go back home. You’re in no condition to be doing a patrol tonight.”

“Quit being ridiculous. It takes the both of us to be able to cover all of Paris.”

“Lady…” He chewed on his lip, keeping his gaze on her. Once again, he saw her stubbornness show through her usual good-natured composure as she seemed to find it fit to prove she was capable of handling her own. She readied her yo-yo and grappled to the building adjacent to the one they were on, heading off before him. “I- Hey wait!” He called out to her, starting out on a run before vaulting with his baton to catch up to her.

“Ladybug, just stop for a second,” He gave up on his current pace, switching to run on all fours to keep up with her.

“The sooner we get this done, the sooner the both of us can go home and lay in bed.” She called out to him over the sound of the wind whistling past them. He narrowed his gaze at this, not finding it a satisfactory answer.

“I know that, but I need to talk to you first.”

She huffed, a billow of mist exhaled into the cold air. She swung onto the roof of one of the nearby buildings, taking a moment to catch her balance. While the sunny part of the day was brief, it had managed to melt some of the snow from the previous night, which then re-froze when the temperatures dipped back below freezing. It left a thin layer of ice over the area, to which Ladybug had to be careful not to slip on. 

While Chat thought this was her giving him an opportunity to catch up, she only stayed in that spot for a moment before readying herself to grapple to the next building. Seeing this, he cussed under his breath, picking up the pace. She’d just managed to swing onto the next roof before skidding on the ice that covered it.

Chat was quick to react, leaping to catch her and turning to cushion the impact of the fall. He felt the air knocked out of him, letting out a wheeze followed by short pants from exhaustion. It was a good minute or two before he let his grip slacken, now just embracing instead of clinging onto a dazed Ladybug. Once he caught his breath, he looked up at her.

“Can you stop being so stubborn for once, and tell me what’s going on with you?” She blinked at the unusually harsh words coming from her soft-spoken partner, frozen in place momentarily. She scrambled off of him, immediately shivering in the cold sting of the air after she left the warmth of his body.

“...My kwami hates the cold, I don’t have a long time before she makes me bolt to the nearest building.” She glanced off to the side, hugging onto herself. He raised a brow at this, but said nothing. He had to admit that it sounded familiar. There were times where he noticed a blank in his memory, and would find himself running to get out of the rain. 

He sat up, digging his heel into the ice to gain a foothold. They exchanged a glance for a brief moment before Ladybug broke it, getting up.

“I’ve got to go- we’ll try the patrol again in few days.”

“Ladybug- wait,”

She hesitated briefly, but turned towards the direction of home. Chat reached out to grab her arm, pulling her into a tight hug. She froze up at first, but eased into the enveloping warmth, heat rising to color her cheeks.

“...That should be enough to keep you from freezing on the way home.”

“..Thanks,” She pulled out of the hug reluctantly, giving him a last glance before heading off, her lithe form disappearing into the night.

He watched her leave, his mind still stuck on the scent of her perfume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there will be more Ladrien later.


	4. Chapter 4

When class started the next day, Marinette found herself avoiding even glancing over at Adrien’s direction. While they had formed a friendship over the past few months, she felt as if she’d set herself back to the beginning of her crush- not even able to hold more than a few words of conversation before starting to stutter and forcing herself to shut up out of sheer embarrassment. Thankfully, Chloè appeared to be absent that day, so she wouldn’t have to worry about that potential source of torture OR akumas. Even if the latter was still a threat, nonetheless.

When not in superhero form, she could enjoy the winter however she felt fit. This meant donning a charming beige trenchcoat and knee-high boots. While it was comfortably warm, it also gave her a bit of a confidence boost- spurred on by her best friend’s encouragement. At about halfway into Physics, she excused herself to the restroom to fix a pigtail that had come undone- also using this small break to converse with the kwami that resided in her purse.

“I think I’ll do okay today- haven’t hardly tripped up on my words or had to deal with a particular cantankerous classmate.” Marinette mumbled, brushing the loose hair before gathering it in one hand. 

“We haven’t had to deal with an akuma either- which I’m glad for. It’s started snowing outside.” Tikki’s spotted form peered up at her from inside the bag.

“I didn’t say it out loud because I wanted to avoid jinxing our good luck.” She chuckled, tieing up the pigtail and pulling it taut. Satisfied, she moved away from the sink to look in the mirror, stopping in the process when she heard her boot stir up water. There was a shallow puddle at her feet, which went down the drain at the other end of the restroom. She furrowed her brow at the sight of this, frowning. “I really hope this is just a busted pipe.”

“We should tell Miss Bustier about this.” her kwami whispered back to her. Marinette nodded, heading back down the hall to her classroom while her boots’ splashing echoed throughout the school. She opened the door, looking down at the water.

“Miss Bustier, I think the school has a flooding-...” She looked up to a vacant room, some belongings still in place, and paper floating on the surface of the water. “...problem,” She looked down at Tikki, who nodded at her. This was a Ladybug problem.

 

He was drenched to the core, and had no idea where he was. The last thing Adrien remembered before blanking out was being swallowed up by the floor. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. This was definitely the work of an akuma. No mistake about it. Though something seemed off. He didn’t recall being particularly nasty to anyone, so it puzzled him as to why he was dragged into it. 

He stood up, wringing his clothes to get rid of the water that soaked them. An effort in vain as they still clung uncomfortably to his body. ‘ _ Look at me, feeling like something the cat dragged in _ ,’ He smirked briefly at the subtle pun before his smile dropped. 

_ Plagg. _

His eyes widened, feeling around his coat for his kwami, then frantically looking around the area for him. He sifted through the items floating in the water, but to no avail. ‘He must still be in my bag,’ Adrien thought, looking around for an exit before heading up a set of stairs, on which water cascaded down from above. He found himself in an unfamiliar hallway, deducting that it must be from a different grade than his own.

When he wasn’t moving, the surface of the water was as smooth as glass, reflecting a mirror image of the scenery above it. Occasionally, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something that sent chills up his spine. He had to find Plagg soon. Nothing disturbed him more than the thought of what would happen if he didn’t. Wherever she was, Ladybug needed his help. And so did his classmates. 

Adrien had just made it to the third floor before something caught his attention. It was the sound of distant splashing from the stairwell at the opposite end of the hallway- rapidly approaching. He started to panic, looking for an escape route. In his head, he made a promise to himself to never undermine Plagg’s assistance ever again. As Chat Noir, he could have the confidence of a lion if he so wished, as long as he helped his lady capture the akuma and repair the damage with a Miraculous Cure. But as his civilian self, his insecurities become more prominent. As was the case now.

He started bolting away from the sound of frantic splashing, finding traversing difficult in the now ankle-deep floodwater that covered the floor. As he felt his heart pounding in his chest, the unmistakable whirr of a yo-yo sounded from the stairwell he was approaching. And suddenly, he found himself weightless, quite literally swept off of his feet. If anything, the height from which he saw himself suspended from almost made him panic more than the hostile entity had.

The arm supporting him adjusted to prevent him from falling, drawing his attention back to his savior. And goddamn, the dizziness from the height was nothing compared to how dazed he felt after looking up at his red-clad lady. Words caught in his throat and he found himself unable to speak. Thankfully, she spoke first, but did so while avoiding his gaze.

“You have to stay out of the water- she uses it to catch you.” Ladybug’s words drew his attention back down to the stairs, where the unnerving stillness had returned to the surface of the water. There, the form of a girl was recognizable in the reflection- who vaguely resembled one of his upperclassmen that he’d seen around school.

“Come on Ladybug, the water’s fine!” The akuma’s voice sounded as though it resonated through the water itself. “Just make it easy and I’ll take the Miraculous off your hands.”

Ladybug seemed unfazed, using the yoyo to lift them effortlessly up the stairwell to the top floor, where it was grappled onto the railing. There it was relatively dry, only puddles left in spots on the floor. A few students resided there, from when they were rounded up by Ladybug. This is where Adrien was brought to, and he was embarrassed to find himself having clung a little too tightly to her than comfortable. He immediately scrambled off of her once he had decent footing, face flushing from the contact. 

Thankfully, she either didn’t seem to mind, or was too focused on her current task to notice. “I need you guys to stay here while I hold off the akuma. I need to stall for time until my partner gets here.” With that, she hurried off without another word.

Adrien had to compose himself, having to force down any lingering feelings of embarrassment lest his classmates started to question it. It didn’t take long until they were sufficiently distracted enough for him to slip away to his classroom on the floor below, using the other stairwells’ position to his advantage.

His bookbag had been left on top of the desk, safely out of the reach of the floodwater. The sound of grumbling from inside of it told him that Plagg was okay, and told himself to heavily reward the kwami once this ordeal was over. The resulting union was cut short, a muffled “Claws Out!” sounding from the room.

 

Ladybug hated this almost as much as the snow. Almost. It was a wonder that the water in the school hadn’t frozen, but she figured that the akuma’s powers prevented it from getting cold enough to ice over. At least in that aspect, she was grateful. 

She had managed to lead the akuma into the library, where she stayed just out of its grasp by staying on the shelves, though had to keep jumping from shelf to shelf to keep from getting caught. She was waiting desperately waiting for her partner to show up and help her out, as she was starting to get exhausted from the endeavor. Just as she considered using up her lucky charm, a familiar dark form landed beside her, causing her to startle slightly.

“My my, Bugaboo, you’ve certainly been busy going after Moaning Myrtle here.” Chat Noir gave a chuckle, eliciting a response from the almost-positively-pissed-off akuma.

“My name is Delugìon, and you will hand over your miraculous!” The speech was just about the same as the typical akuma, with only slight differences. If there weren’t the danger of getting dragged into the water and drowned, both would have almost certainly groaned. Hawkmoth really needed to start mixing it up every once in a while.

“I think the akuma is in her pendant. It’s the only thing that is tangible.” Ladybug pointed out, jumping to another bookshelf when the akuma lunged at her. “The rest of her is completely water, so be careful not to get yourself wet.” She added the last line with a subtle smirk.

“Of course not, my lady. Cats hate water after all.” He flashed his usual cheshire-grin back at her.

“That was the implication, kitty.” She swung her yo-yo at the akuma, but they melded back into the water before she could hook onto the pendant. She uttered a curse in frustration, looking back up to see a visibly shocked Chat. “....what? Never heard a teenager cuss before?” She made her way over to the librarian’s desk- a stable platform where she could summon her lucky charm. 

“Do you think you can distract the akuma?” She cast a glance over at her partner.

“I’ll have you know that I’m  _ very  _ good at distracting people.” He quirked an eyebrow, winking at her with a grin.

“Chat, focus.” She set to work summoning the Lucky Charm while Chat threw taunts at the akuma to direct their attention away from Ladybug. His banter earned him a loud splash and a thorough soaking, to which he hissed.  _ Actually hissed _ . Meanwhile, with a wisp of pink light, a polka dotted wishbone dropped into Ladybug’s hands. At first, a look of confusion crossed her face, then an expression of concentration as she assessed the situation around her. She quickly formulated a plan after spotting a desk with several computers on it.

“Chat, use your Cataclysm on the computer towers over there and push it into the water,” She called out to him, making a dash over to the desk herself to grab a set of headphones that had been lying out beside one of the keyboards, and tying it to the wishbone she’d acquired. She swung out of the way to land on one of the shelves.

Chat did as told, his cataclysm shorting out the computer tower. Knocking it into the water sent the current through to the akuma, who was effectively stunned into place. Ladybug used the opportunity and swung her makeshift grappling hook to catch on the submerged pendant, reeling it towards her.

In one swift movement, she had it broken and the akuma purified, with her miraculous cure effectively drying the school (and themselves) of water- much to Chat’s delight. He did a little dance of happiness at the fact that he was no longer sopping wet, a celebration that was cut short by the beeping of his miraculous.

“Well, my lady, it appears we’ll have to  _ cat _ ch up later.” The pun made her roll her eyes, but smile nonetheless.

“See you at the patrol tomorrow night.” With that, they parted ways.


	5. Chapter 5

Adrien found it really hard to sit still the next day. Anyone who wasn’t completely and hopelessly oblivious could tell he was incredibly antsy- up until the moment that Ms. Mendeleiev had pointed it out, to which he started venting all the pent up energy to his right leg and bouncing it incessantly. While his best friend had taken notice of this, he made up some excuse about some side project his father had him doing (which was entirely false, as his father hardly had any interaction with him outside of work), and Nino simply brushed it off. No, what had him so vivacious was his thoughts of his patrol later that evening.

He’d started to try and think of ways to possibly ask Ladybug out- most ideas either completely corny or completely cliché, and all of them shot down once he gave it a bit more thought. And with that, he wanted the timing to be absolutely perfect. The original plan was to wait until Valentine’s Day rolled back around, but with their relationship turning towards unfamiliar territory, he had to rethink his options.

Plagg’s suggestions, as per usual, were veritably useless. _“Give her a wheel of brie noir, she’ll love it” “Have you tried grooming her hair yet?” “Obviously, you need to hunt her some pigeons- girls love pigeons” “How do you expect to win her over if you haven’t even rubbed your scent on her yet?”_ Adrien decided after getting several terrible pieces of advice, his kwami was probably the very LAST person he should have gone to. Though admittedly, asking anyone else would have had disastrous results- which he seemed to be getting a lot of lately.

By the time that the dismissal bell rang, he was running out of ideas and time. Or he would have been, had Nino not made him stop by the bulletin boards on the way out to look for local concerts. There were various flyers posted by students and staff alike for upcoming events in Paris, most of them obviously Christmas themed and a good few were ads for ice skating rinks. Unfortunately, on the bulletin board was several papers for Chloé’s New Year’s Party that completely covered the board. With a scoff, he had to tear some down to see the underlying flyers, to which one in particular caught his eye.

An advertisement for the annual Jours de fêtes, held at the Grand Palais. As he scanned the paper, his eyes kept darting to the image of the ferris wheel in the background of the image. He pocketed the flyer, turning towards Nino who’d been watching.

“What’s with that? You plan on going?”

“Well, yeah. I haven’t been to a festival of any kind, really.” He gave a sheepish smile, walking out of the school with Nino on his tail, who was excitedly chattering about the festival with fervor (in such a way that only Nino could do). _It’ll be perfect._ He thought, indulging in thoughts about inviting his lady to the event.

Needless to say, the interaction went nothing like he planned. Or at least, it wouldn’t. Ladybug hadn’t even showed up at the rendezvous point yet and he was already a ball of nerves just thinking about what to say once she showed up. His palms were even clammy- making his gloves really uncomfortable to wear. He tried several times to gain his composure, to get back that Chat Noir charm he had- to no avail.

When she did arrive, he was quite a mess. His belted tail betrayed his inner jitteriness, swishing in an impatient manner. His thought process evaporated the moment he saw her shivering form- and reminded him of the gift offering he’d brought for her.

“I- uh- you cold?”  He kept his voice surprisingly steady, walking over to her.

“Yeah, very. These costumes aren’t really insulated well.” She hugged her sides, looking up at him. His ears perked up in the creation of a spur-of-the-moment plan.

“Hey Ladybug? I need you to close your eyes for a second.”

“What for?”

“A second.” He uttered the last line with a wide grin, to which he got elbowed in the side.

“C’mon Chat, be serious.”

“Okay, Okay. Just close your eyes… please?”

She sighed, complying with a small huff and raising her eyebrows in skepticism. Chat scrambled to get the gift he’d brought, draping the article of clothing around her shoulders.

“Okay, you can open them now.”

She blinked her eyes open, looking down at the thick fabric of the coat he’d put on her.

“I used to wear it a lot, until my shoulders grew too broad for it, so you can go ahead and keep it.” He kept his hands behind his back to hide his fidgeting, fiddling with the cuff of his glove. Ladybug took a moment to slip her arms into the sleeves, buttoning up the coat. Chat had to hold a hand over his mouth to stifle a giggle. She raised a brow in response.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s so big on you,” His chuckle was cut off by an elbow to the ribs. Her expression was dominated by a pout, one directed solely on him. He avoided her gaze. “Hey, it suits you. Anyways, we should probably get started on that patrol.”

She gave him a small flick on the nose before getting a running start and grappling to the adjacent building. He stayed anchored to the spot briefly, blinking in surprise before starting after her. “Hey, wait!”

 

Chat found it hard to keep up with her throughout the evening. Without the hinderance of the cold to slow her down, she seemed almost as lively as ever. She even threw a few bouts of playful banter in his direction, and he’d be lying if he said that didn’t make his chest feel tight a few times. Eventually, the evening started winding down to a close, with the gradual lightening of the sky signaling more than just atmospheric haze and light pollution. And with it came a sense of flustered apprehension returning to him, as he knew he was running out of time.

“Well, it doesn’t look like there’ll be an akuma to surprise us any time soon, huh, Kitty?” Ladybug’s attention switched over to him once they stopped on the roof of a small coffee shop, an old neon sign bearing the words “Café Corbeau” dimly illuminating her features with a soft glow. Chat felt himself stuck in the moment briefly, before having to stir his mind back to reality.

“Uh- yeah, hopefully.” His hands fidgeted mindlessly, folding and unfolding the flyer in his pocket.

“Something on your mind?”

“Wha- no, nothing- I mean, plenty of things but,” A fumble of words came from him, and he had to physically bite his cheek to stop himself from saying anything particularly stupid. His reply drew suspicion from his partner, who walked over to him. The poor paper fell victim to his nervous grip, becoming a piece of poorly executed improv origami in the process.

“ _Chaton_ , what are you hiding? Is it someone’s pet canary?”

“Uh, no- nothing like that, there’s just this thing going on tomorrow… and I was wondering if you..” She quirked an eyebrow at him, and he swallowed the nervousness that was taking over him. “..if you wanted, to uh, go?...Together! I mean,” He shoved the flyer for the Jours de fêtes into her hands, bracing himself for the worst case scenario. Maybe he really should have brought a fresh pigeon for good luck.

“Sure, seems like fun!”

“Wait- really?”

“Yeah, do you want to meet up here first, and head there together?”

“Yes! I- absolutely,” He almost couldn’t contain his excitement, his tail once again betraying his eagerness- though to a much larger degree than before. It no longer hung limp behind his form, instead moving around in question mark-esque movements. “So, it’s a date?”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Chat.”

“Right, sorry,”

“Anyways, I’ll see you then.” She flashed a smirk at him, readying her yo-yo to take her home.

“Goodnight, Bugaboo.” The nickname elicited a giggle from her, before she swung off towards the cityscape. He headed in the opposite direction to go home, excitement shaking him to his very core. She hadn’t turned him down. She actually said _yes_ ! And with _enthusiasm_! He already expected to be unable to sleep once he got home, despite it already being early morning. He was just thankful that the next day happened to be a teacher workday, and he didn’t have to worry about waking early.

 Poor Plagg was nearly at his limit with his charge’s passionate ramblings. He’d been going on about it for about twenty minutes already by the time the kwami managed to get Adrien to just sit down. It would be an extreme stroke of luck if either of them succeeded in getting any rest for the actual event. But even if he grumbled on end about it, it was actually a pleasant sight to see the boy excessively excited about something for once. Plagg would stick around for him, even if it was just to see him happy- and possibly stick around for the fried faire food as well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hit a bit of an artblock with this one, but it's my favorite so far.  
> Also the longest, goddamn.

Ladybug was the first to arrive this time, donning the thick jacket that Chat had given her. It was much warmer than anything else she had and well… it had sentimental value over her other garments. The fabric was thick enough to cut through the cold wind, making her glad that this seemed to be an off-day for Hawkmoth as well. A light drizzle had set in, not quite reaching the requirements for a full out snow, but it was still enough to make her uncomfortable.

Chat was running a bit late, but she was patient, with plenty of time to wait for him. The harsh neon of the Cafè Corbeau flickered occasionally, throwing a dim light that reflected off of the haze, which had already started to fall into heavier precipitation. The word ‘sleet’ found its way onto the girl’s lips, to which she crept back under the small awning of the coffee shop once threatened with the prospect of ice. An uncomfortable feeling nestled itself in the curve of her back, almost as if to remind her of the limitations that she faced with the costume.

“Salut, My Lady.” The greeting was the exact opposite of lightning, the sound preceding the appearance of her partner, who took a moment to duck under the awning with her. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” His ears were pointed forward, his attention focused on her with his arms tucked neatly behind his back.

“It’s alright, but uh.. Are you wearing perfume?” She raised an eyebrow at him, her expression just short of a smirk.

“Wha, No.. Yes, Sort of?” His immediate response was to rub the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his. 

She chuckled, tapping his nose and looking back out to the rain. “Ready to go?”

“Not yet, one second,” He paused briefly, before withdrawing his hands from behind his back to wrap a piece of blue fabric around her shoulders- a powder blue scarf.

She blinked at it before looking back at him, smiling. “How many more articles of clothing are you going to pile on me before the week is over?” His response was a guilty whistle and his eyes being directed towards the corner of his vision. Ladybug merely rolled her eyes, grabbing his arm and tugging him along. “Come on, we should probably go ahead and walk to the Grand Palais before it gets any colder.”

He followed her out into the rain, ears flattening against his head as soon as he felt the water dripping onto him. It was uncomfortable to the highest degree, having the icy rain trickling through his hair to his scalp, his tail twitching in unrest. He knew that this much was Plagg’s doing, as he didn’t much mind under normal circumstances. Though, he guessed having physical traits of a feline did come with the undesirable effects as well.

The rain did not appear to decide on whether or not it wanted to freeze, coming down in cold sheets that occasionally turned to sleet, but for the most part just stayed water. This stretch of the walk was the least enjoyable for Chat, who, for the most part, inched closer to his companion until they were practically sharing the coat. While Ladybug didn’t mind shielding him from the downpour, it wasn’t particularly comfortable having a mass of wet leather cuddle up to your side and drench your hip.

“Chat,” One ear of his perked up at her voice, flicking off raindrops that had settled on the rim of the leather.

“Chat, you’re getting the side of my coat wet.”

He immediately shrugged off of her, ears flattening once more the moment he felt the water hit him.

“Sorry, My Lady,”

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” She lifted her arm to offer protection from the light downpour that ailed them both. He gladly took the invitation, ducking under her arm. It was a comforting reminder of the partnership that they’d developed over the couple years that they’d been working together, and Chat found solace in this small dry space that she provided. And he didn’t leave that space until they were safely underneath the massive glass roof of the Grand Palais.

Chat Noir had never actually taken the time to register how imposing the modern-day palace was from the inside, and he grew dizzy just upon looking up at the ceiling. His pupils dilated, trying to take everything in at once, his gaze tracing the scene before him. Like depicted in the flyer, the ferris wheel took center stage in the building, dwarfing the smaller attractions and stands below it. By now, he was almost intoxicated with excitement, having already been going off of the high that he’d gotten from Ladybug accepting the totally-not-a-date invitation.

It was the excited lashing of his tail that finally grasped Ladybug’s attention from her own fascinated stupor, looking over at him in quiet admiration of his excitement. Poor kid probably hadn’t been able to go to many events like this, from the small hints she got about his civilian life. She hesitated briefly before reaching over to give a light pat to the top of his head, which in turn swung around to look at her with wide-eyed wonder and a giddy smile. The expression made her heart skip a beat, and forced her to avert her gaze with a flustered smile of her own.

“So, uh, what caught your eye first?” She managed to assuage any lingering feelings of bashfulness on her own, looking back towards the excited kitten practically bouncing next to her. 

“I really want to ride the ferris wheel, but not quite yet. I know you’ve been eyeing some of the more competitive attractions here.” Chat cast a glance at a line of faire games, all boasting some impressive prizes along the back walls. He was right, as it was the sort of thing that Ladybug could hardly resist. Her fierce vying nature was something that had to be heavily suppressed at times, but the prospect of a prize almost seemed to be beckoning her to the stalls. Her fingers curled up inside the coat.

“Chat, hold my yo-yo before I do something stupid like summon a lucky charm to win a stuffed animal.” The compact was dropped into his paws before he had the chance to say anything, following the girl whose gaze was focused on a large hamster plush sitting on one of the back shelves of the stall that hosted a sharp-shooter game. It was complete with stacked bottles and spring-powered toy guns with corks in the nozzle.

One of the gladly consistent aspects of the Jours de fête was that most, if not every, of the attractions appeared to be free of charge to local superheroes, with the exclusion of the ever-indifferent vending machines. So it was no surprise to the duo that the manager of the stall paid no heed to them marching right up without so much as a quarter-toss to the counter. 

“Guess I’ll have to let go of one of my prizes to our spotted heroine this evening. Shame, I’d actually grown attached to them.” The comment was followed by a hearty chuckle from the burly man, who handed over one of the orange-tipped toy guns to Ladybug and observed from behind the counter.

She was already assessing the game in such a way that was unique to her persona, all other distractions fading away from her vision with the inclusion of even color as she focused on a strategy to knock over all the glass bottles. The only thing an outside observer could see was the rapid way that her eyes moved about, formulating ideas for a solution. Concentration was her mise en scène, and goddamn if she wasn’t its idol.

Chat watched her from her side, expression falling into one of remarkably content dreaminess. It was this very thing that he fell for, her determination. Though, it was the small things that encapsulated him further; the way she stuck her tongue out when she was fixated on something, the furrow of her brow, and the way she was absolutely still except for her fidgeting hands. And though this state of hers only lasted seconds, he found himself entirely enchanted by it, stretching that moment past minutes and hours.

Within a blink, the trigger was pulled and the stack of bottles were reduced to a glassy clatter on the ground. The sound brought the daydreaming boy back to his senses, left completely bewildered at how much time had actually passed. The confusion didn’t last long, however.

As Ladybug pointed out her desired prize, the look of absolute jubilation took her over, and Chat felt himself falling deeper in love with her. Plagg was right. He was absolutely head over heels. It was like hell for him, but god if it wasn’t almost intoxicating for him.

He hadn’t noticed how long he’d been spacing off until his muse had nudged him in the shoulder teasingly.

“You alright, Chaton? You look like you’ve seen a red dot somewhere.” Her comment was followed by a giggle half covered with her gloved hand.

_ Not a red dot, but a red beauty  _ with _ dots. _

“Oh! I-..I’m great.” It took him a moment to get his composure back, a slight blush covering his face underneath the mask, for which he was glad it adequately hid the evidence of his thought process. The belt tail of his costume was not quite so cooperative with him, swishing back and forth with a mind of its own, essentially betraying him.

She just smiled at his supposed spacing out, holding the giant hamster plush to her chest and directing her gaze towards the ferris wheel.

“Well, my competitive urges have been satiated, so I suppose its time we get you to that much awaited ferris-wheel ride.” She didn’t even have to turn around to grasp his hand and lead him through the crowds of people. And hell, if that didn’t get him on the tips of his toes more than anything else. Chat Noir- No, Adrien- was gone at this point. His mind gone completely blank as his stumbling, flustered body was left reeling behind her. Who was he anymore? He didn’t have the damnedest idea. But what he knew was that Ladybug was holding his hand.

While it wasn’t uncommon for anyone in France to be undaunted by personal contact, this was a whole different situation for him. He, who had been attention starved and neglected for the longest time, was having his hand held by the girl he had been pining over. He was amazed at the fact that he hadn’t embarrassed himself and scared her off yet, and wasn’t hoping to break that streak anytime soon. Two minutes, and he had his mind and body securely back in place once more, finding his feet again and following his lady.

The line was thankfully short, probably due to the reopening of a different attraction at another part of the event. There was a quick glance exchanged between the two heroes and the forlorn-looking man at the controls of the ride. It gave Chat a bad feeling, which sank to his stomach with caution prickling at his back. He managed to force it down as they boarded the passenger car with the plush in tow.

Chat was calm for maybe like, the first few seconds. Once the cars started moving and climbing higher, nervousness strung every fiber of his being. Every part of him was absolutely sure that Ladybug could hear his heart racing, his hands fidgeting, his ears swiveling forward as he found himself watching her. Those blue eyes of hers (damn that color, but he loved it) reflected the lights of the fair below, widened in awe as she looked down below.

He couldn’t focus on the height they were at, or how the rain had turned to snow covering the glass roof, or the fact that he had stopped breathing. That was a lie, he noticed the last one as his chest ached for air, leaving him quietly wheezing as not to alarm her.  _ Find something else to look at- don’t pass out, you idiot.  _ The voice echoed in his head, whether it was Plagg or himself- he didn’t know. 

His gaze traveled down to her free hand, which she had been using to steady herself against the subtle rocking of the ferris wheel while the other firmly held her prize. How tempted he was to reach out and hold it, and how firmly his own self-inflicted apprehension had kept him from doing just that.

 

...And how painful it was to have the breath forced out of him when an abrupt lurch of the machine knocked his back against the cold steel of the passenger car. Ladybug was at his side the very next second- her words drowned out by loud ringing and distant sounds of screams from below the ferris wheel. When he opened his eyes, his vision was filled with spots. No, not the spotted costume of his partner, but it covered the rest of everything as well. Were there two Ladybugs? Three? Was everything a Ladybug?

“There’s only one of me, Chat. Are you okay?” Her voice finally gained clarity through the confusing haze that surrounded him. Did he say that out loud? He shook his head to alleviate the rest of the horrible ringing that plagued his hearing, and looked up at her.

“I’m...Okay,” The breathiness of his reply concerned her, but the sounds of pandemonium echoing through the building drew her attention away from him. 

“I think there’s an akuma down there,”

“Yeah-?” His inquiry was cut short at the sound of twisting metal and creaking from the now-unstable structure. Panic set in quickly, and for once, they shut down. Both had mouths slightly agape in realization and fear- unable to stir their locked joints into action. One always speaks of the famous “Fight or Flight” reaction, and truth be told, it was a common thing for the heroes to settle on one or the other. It was uncomfortable silence as the unspoken third option fueled their being- “Freeze”.

It happened in a matter of seconds, the twisted metal giving way under the unbalanced weight of itself, and the inevitable fall of the ferris wheel and the heroes trapped within it.

There’s a kind of peaceful terror that comes with helplessness. Especially the kind that follows falling. Adrenaline courses through your veins and turns perception of time into a huge fucking mess. But even as her body was determined to keep her still to keep herself- Ladybug’s stubbornness was even stronger. 

It was a good moment or two before she sprung into action, the distinct whirr of her yo-yo cutting through the air sounding as she clung to her partner. The rope hadn’t caught a stable platform, but it was enough to save them from being crushed from the passenger car. 

The connection soon gave, sending the two careening to the ground below. The distance wasn’t enough to be fatal, but as soon as Chat’s head hit the ground, the loud ringing was back and his vision blacked out momentarily.

Ladybug was sent tumbling several meters away, tossed into a limp state. The akuma wreaking havoc was currently pursuing his own initiative with exacting revenge on some poor civilian, his monstrous form outlined against the fuzzy lights of the fair. Chat’s vision was incredibly blurred, but his eyes glanced around his surroundings nonetheless, taking in what he could. His dazed mind could only focus on finding his partner, who had vanished from his sight in the span of the time it took to blink.

Getting to his feet was a painful endeavor, and every part of him ached, but adrenaline forced him to keep going. Where he last saw Ladybug was now a space cluttered with twisted metal and scrap- the remnants of the ferris wheel he had been on a few minutes ago. When reality hit him- it was like someone had hit his nose with the burning scent of copper, and the next few seconds passed in a flurry of limping motion and frantic shouting. A hurried Cataclysm and crawling led him to his unconscious partner, protected by sheer luck alone. 

Immediately he was there, cradling her form and listening to her heartbeat and breathing to make sure that life was still pulsing through her body. The blackout the akuma caused went unnoticed, all of Chat’s being focused on keeping Ladybug safe. His grip did not slacken until the adrenaline drained from his system- eventually his whole world going dark as he blacked out.


End file.
